Government

Ipsos's latest survey, conducted immediately after Tony Blair's announcement of his intention to resign as Leader of the Labour Party, assesses the public's attitudes towards ten years of government by the Labour Party.

Ipsos's latest survey for The Sun shows an increase since 2001 in the proportion of the population thinking the current Labour government is 'more sleazy' than the previous Conservative government under John Major.

The latest monthly Ipsos poll for The Sun examined public attitudes to the main two party leaders plus Gordon Brown and how these relate to attitudes towards the Labour and Conservative parties.

The general public would like to see the reform of political party funding bringing about greater controls on the influence from the affluent few and reinvigoration of local politics, according to deliberative research carried out by Ipsos on behalf of the Electoral Commission. This report outlines the findings from five deliberative workshops across the UK, and a further reconvened workshop which enabled the debate to be developed. The report will feed into Sir Hayden Phillip's Review of the Funding of Political Parties.

Gordon Brown has been rated the most successful post-War Chancellor in an exclusive Ipsos poll of nearly 300 academics belonging to the Political Studies Association (PSA).

Gordon Brown has a clear lead over John Reid as being seen as the most capable Prime Minister and in understanding Britain's problems according to the latest Ipsos poll for The Sun.

Research conducted by Ipsos for the Young Foundation shows that the British public believe political parties have an important role to play in democracy. Half the public (49%) say that political parties in Britain enable the people to have a voice; and a similar number also disagree that Britain would be better off if political parties did not exist and all politicians were independent. At the same time, fewer than a quarter believe that parties are open and transparent, and the most popular approaches to making parties more appealing would be for them to involve people more in local decision making and for them to listen more to the public.

Information about public perception of party leaders: satisfaction, attitudes towards them, their image

Two thirds of the British public (64%) believe that it is fair to say that Tony Blair is "all spin, but no substance" according to Ipsos's latest political poll exclusively for The Sunday Times. Just 28% of the public say that this criticism is unfair, giving a "spin over substance" index of +36. The public is divided about whether this accusation can be applied to Gordon Brown: 41% say it can and 45% say it cannot (an index of -4). A large proportion of the public have yet to decide about David Cameron, but where people do give an opinion they are more likely to say he is all spin, but no substance. Cameron's spin index is +11 (with 42% saying he is all spin and 31% saying he is not). Opinion about the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Sir Menzies Campbell, divides three ways: 28 % agree he is all spin, but no substance; 36 % say he is not; and 36% say they don't know. This gives Campbell an index score of -8.